GRAND RAPIDS – After Mercy Health St. Mary's sold three area athletic clubs, former director of tennis David Brouwer, had no venue for his West Michigan Tennis Academy until Forest Hills Central girls tennis coach Charles Phelps approached Brouwer.

Phelps suggested that Brouwer and his academy partner with Forest Hills Public Schools present young area athletes with a summer tennis experience.

Brouwer who became the head tennis professional at Ramblewood and was unable to forge a partnership with Phelps, but what ultimately resulted from that proposition was the Forest Hills Summer Tennis Academy, a partnership between all three of the district's high schools. It has operated this summer on the courts at Forest Hills Central.

“The whole concept of the West Michigan Tennis Academy no longer exists,” said Phelps, who has presented the inaugural season of the Forest Hills Summer Tennis Academy with the dean of area high school tennis coaches, Forest Hills Northern's Dave Sukup, as well as FHC's boys coach Dan Bolhouse and Tom Wiggins, boys and girls coach at Forest Hills Eastern. “I approached Dave (Sukup) because he is the man who knows everyone. He has been around forever and he has every connection.

“The academy, this season, is something we need to build on,” Phelps said. “No other sport in the district runs a combined program like this. It has been an affordable option that was attractive to a lot of people and the proceeds from the academy will help the tennis teams within the district. This is something we certainly anticipate continuing into the future.”

At a cost of $15 per day, the academy sold out its entire summer's four-day morning and five-day afternoon sessions in two days. It added an evening session, as well as a two-day session every other week for players aged 10 and under. The morning session drew 40-45 players per day this summer while the afternoon session drew 40-50 and the evening session drew 35-40 players per day.

“One of our primary goals,” Phelps said, “was to have the four coaches move from court to court, but also on every court was a college student or recent high-school graduate who was either an all-stater or a state champion when they played in high school.”

Stephanie Nguyen, a 2014 FHN graduate, was a Division 2 state runner-up at No. 3 doubles in 2012 and last fall won the Division 2 state championship at that flight.

“It has been very busy, but a lot of fun too,” said Nguyen, who is headed to Michigan State this fall, but who does not plan to play intercollegiate tennis for the Spartans. “I have worked with all different ages from sixth grade to 12th grade,” she said. “The coaches give the players the examples and then we run the drills and we're encouraging.”

Other former high school players who worked at the academy include three-time state champion and four-time state finalist Victoria Minzlaff of FHN and former FHN state champ Lauren Gager who now plays at Davenport University.

“We have had very good young players showing younger kids how to win,” Sukup said. “That's what makes our camp special. We want to put out a product that helps kids get better and we have players who have been successful in high school working at the camp."